Consumers demand reliable, fast, and secure connectivity
With the advent of mobile shopping and widespread wireless connectivity, consumers expect friction-free retail technology. Shopping trends indicate consumers desire a speedier checkout experience and more digital payment options. They want to be able to engage with a brand on the channel of their choice.
To remain competitive, merchants must have the most advanced systems and solutions to respond to customer demands and predict their future needs. Retail success is directly related to a company’s ability to leverage emerging client-first technology successfully.
Retailers face challenges like inadequate infrastructure and ever-evolving security concerns. The challenges are compounded by the AI revolution and the increasing adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which demand fast, low-latency connectivity and access to large volumes of clean data. Only those who diligently test and implement the most innovative retail technology solutions, enabled by vetted AI solutions, will succeed.
Retail technology must optimize data to be successful
Retailers collect a wide range of information from both internal and external sources. To remain relevant in today’s omnichannel retail marketplace, merchants must adopt reliable, secure, and efficient data management solutions, such as backup storage, network monitoring, and infrastructure security. This approach will ensure retailers can collect, analyze, and optimize their data for retail technology initiatives both now and in the future. Additionally, these practices will help retailers de-silo data to get the most out of AI tools that synthesize data into customer insights.
Data protection is critical for retailers
Retailers must leverage technology more than ever to protect customer data. Across the country, retailers spend millions of dollars yearly on data security, whether installing extensive firewalls or hiring cybersecurity experts.
And for good reason. According to Sophos, the average cost of recovering from ransomware rose to $2.73 million in the first half of 2024, already a nearly 48% increase over 2023. The number of retailers who paid the ransom to recover encrypted data was estimated to be a staggering 60-90%.
CBTS offers proven data protection services that ensure retailer data is neither lost nor compromised.
- CBTS collaborates with top security and technology firms to find weaknesses in retail systems through various tests and assessments, such as penetration, social engineering, and phishing simulations.
- We design, build, implement, document, and test disaster recovery preparedness programs to ensure 24x7x365 support.
- CBTS has developed a set of AI best practices to help secure the rollout of generative and analytic AI applications across the retail enterprise.
AI is the future of retail: Is your infrastructure ready?
Network as a Service (NaaS), Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), and Secure access service edge (SASE) enhance the connectivity and collaboration capabilities of retail technology:
- NaaS is a managed cloud service that eliminates the time-consuming management of complex and expensive network resources, such as wireless LANs, security appliances, switches, and application delivery controllers in a data center or network, while providing advanced analytics to set retailers apart.
- SD-WAN virtualizes networking through the Cloud, allowing for more efficient use of existing network transports. The benefits are cost savings, improved voice and video communication, always-on access to business-critical applications, and more efficient use of private and public networks.
- SASE builds on the capacity of SD-WAN while integrating the latest cloud security technology, such as secure web gates (SWG), next-gen firewalls (NGFW), and so on.
Advanced applications for retail technology
Unified engagement and consumer experience
Customer satisfaction requires a connected, digital experience incorporating voice, video, and written communications. To succeed, retailers must deliver a contact center that provides a reliable and continuous customer experience.
CBTS provides contact center as a service (CCaaS) solutions that scale, reduce complexity, and free IT departments from daily maintenance. The benefits include:
- A consistent customer experience across channels.
- Cost savings due to smaller monthly operating costs vs. significant capital investments.
- The ability to quickly deploy new users, launch new features, and make changes.
- Integration with existing mobile, social, visual, and virtual technologies.
CCaaS provides a seamless omnichannel customer experience for businesses of any size through web, e-mail, chat, or social media interactions.
Advanced call reporting and analytics allow retailers to make informed decisions based on call volumes, highlighting the importance of adequate staffing to prevent potential sales loss. Missed calls equal missed sales opportunities, but with awareness, businesses can address this issue. If phone systems fail or hold times spike due to unforeseen problems, the ability to resolve these issues quickly is crucial. CBTS ensures that your essential phone systems remain operational, with IT support available 24x7x365.
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) allows retailers to operate on-demand communications and applications as a utility service, providing business agility, scalability, informative analytics, and cost-effectiveness to encourage innovation and growth. Through a partnership with CBTS, retailers save both time and money by eliminating upfront costs. UCaaS solutions include VoIP, video calling, collaboration, mobile solutions, chat/presence, messaging, web, audio, third-party integrations, and more.
AI-empowered communications
AI enhances UCaaS and CCaaS on multiple levels, from backend performance like noise cancellation to front-end features like real-time transcription and translation. Additionally, the drive in recent years has been to unite UCaaS and CCaaS into a singular platform, sometimes called Unified Commerce. At CBTS, we expect AI to further drive this push by incorporating data streams across silos and allowing customers to interact with retail companies as a monolith while maintaining consistency across channels.
Learn more: Maximizing workplace efficiency: The power of embedded AI in digital workplace solutions
IoT and edge computing
IoT devices have many use cases across retail, ranging from inventory management and tracking to HVAC to security controls. Multi-function cameras not only provide security but also provide retailers with real-time analytics of customer behavior in-store. AI helps unite this data with streams from every channel, including e-commerce, to mine company data for deeper insights and customer behavior analysis.
Meeting the future of retail with confidence
A partnership with CBTS ensures that retailers can deploy world-class retail technology that will enable them to thrive in the years to come. Embrace the future of retail technology with CBTS and secure a competitive edge. With our cutting-edge solutions, ranging from cloud computing to comprehensive data protection services and AI readiness, we ensure your retail business can meet and exceed customer expectations in the next digital age.
Contact us today to learn how our expertise can transform your retail operations and drive your business toward unparalleled success.
